Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

For much of the media the summer is the
political silly season. It’s a time when they fill column inches and news
reports with fluff and nonsense.

For the people of north Belfast the
summer was far from silly. This year’s orange marching season and the blatantly
sectarian actions of some orange bands as they passed St. Patrick’s Church in
Donegal Street; the behaviour of the orange order at Ardoyne; the UVF fuelled
attacks on the PSNI around Carlisle Circus; and the defence of all this by
leading unionist politicians, was a reminder of the undercurrent of
sectarianism which remains a major problem in the north.

South of the border the disastrous
health policies of the Irish government, and their impact on health provision
and hospital services, has seen growing public dissatisfaction with that government.
This was brought into sharp focus when the HSE announced cuts of €130 million
in August. There was immediate and vocal public outrage at its proposal to cut
the personal assistant allowance for disabled people. Seven people with
disabilities and several carers picketed Government Buildings, staying
overnight in protest at the threatened cuts.

The
Health Minister was forced into a u-turn. However, Minister Reilly said that
while the government would try to maintain existing services he could not
guarantee that the upcoming budget would not include cuts around disability.

This and Minister Brian Hayes remarks
at the weekend that some wealthy pensioners should pay more has heightened fears
around the budget. Government Ministers indulged in the scare tactics this time
last year.

At the same time as Ministers are openly
talking about December’s budget the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon
Gilmore have been refusing to answer questions on it or to speculate about the
content of the budget other than to say that it will be ‘savage’.

This will be this government’s second
budget and it will see the imposition of almost another three and a half
billion euros in cuts and taxes. It is effectively planning to take a kango
hammer to the public services.

The madness of this approach is
evident in the fact that AIB, which is owned by the state, will hand over €1
billion to unguaranteed bondholders on October 1st. This is almost one
third of what will be cut in December’s budget!!

While Sinn Féin agrees that the state
has to cut its debt and deficit we believe its approach to achieving this is wrong
and deeply flawed and isn’t working. It is making the wrong choices and taking
the wrong decisions.

Sinn Féin’s approach in the north,
where we are in a mandatory coalition government with unionist parties that are
deeply conservative, or in the Dáil where we are the lead opposition party, is about
defending working people from the worst excesses of Tory government policies
and opposing the punitive policies of Fine Gael and Labour.

Our policies are framed by our core
republican values. These are about freedom and Irish unity, and equality and
citizens’ rights, including the right to a home, to a job, to a decent standard
of health care, to a clean environment and social solidarity. Liberty, Equality
and Fraternity.

On Monday we held a planning day in
Dublin with our 17 strong Oireachtas team and Leinster House support team. The
all-day session took place in Clasac, the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann resource
centre in Clontarf which is a very fine building. Our purpose was to discuss
our strategy for the new term of the Dáil which began on Tuesday. We were
joined by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and key support staff from
the north.

The reality is that we have two states
on this island which since partition have evolved different systems. It is
important therefore that we have a joined up approach. This is particularly
pertinent as London still exercises fiscal control in the north. This is deeply
frustrating as it limits the Executive’s ability to challenge the imposition of
some measures which are still in the provenance of the British.

As a result of work ongoing at this
time Sinn Féin will shortly be launching a major jobs strategy for the 26
counties which we believe can create more than 150,000 jobs while retaining
thousands of current jobs. This can be paid for from a €13 billion additional
investment in job creation and economic growth over the next four years. How
can this be paid for at a time of recession?

It would be funded from €5.8billion in
discretionary funding in the National Pension Reserve Fund, €1.534billion from
the European Investment Bank, €3 billion incentivised investment from the
private pension sector and we would not cut the €2.6 billion which the
government cut from it’s capital budget spend.

Following months of intensive
conversation with rural communities across the island, involving Martin
Ferris TD, Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Senator Kathryn Reilly and myself, Sinn Féin
will also be publishing a new document setting out proposals for the regeneration of rural
Ireland with a particular focus on the west.

And in November, in advance of the Fine Gael/Labour
budget Sinn Féin will present a fully costed, alternative – one which is fair, takes account of the
hardship that people are facing and which will boost recovery.

For example the government is going to
bring in a property tax which will add an additional burden on households on
top of previous stealth taxes like the Universal Social Charge, the Household
Charge, septic tank charges, increased costs for parents with children at
school, increased VAT and much more. The government claims this property tax
would raise around €500 million.

Sinn Féin is opposed to the property
tax. We believe that those who can afford to pay more should pay more. We have
consistently called for the introduction of a third rate of tax for those
earning over €100,000. This would raise around €410milion. We have also argued
for the establishment of a wealth tax on assets above €1million, excluding working
farmland which on last years figures would raise about 800million.These measures would be far more equitable.

So, there is a lot of work ahead. Sinn
Féin is developing policies north and south and with an all-Ireland
perspective, to meet the challenges of the here and now while planning for the
future. Monday’s discussion was very useful and informative. Making progress;
defending working families; opposing harsh government policies, whether from
London or Dublin and advancing our objectives of unity and independence, will
not happen by chance or because its right – it requires strategizing and
planning and that’s what Sinn Féin is all about.

1 comment:

Hello Gerry, Liberté, égalité, fraternité a good tripartite motto. This does provides a vibrant picture of design for core republican values, and Sinn Féin. Of course the Taoiseach decisions, as the Dáil Éireann in the declared Irish Republic are planning for the future. The Future dedicated we hope for a real fraternié or brotherhood.,only if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Again you have work ahead of you Gerry, with care--